2001 Bodegas Casa Juan Señor de Lesmos Crianza RiojaFull disclaimer: we sell this wine where I work. I was really pleased how well this $15 wine is showing. An important reminder that reserva vs gran reserva vs crianza is not of nearly as much importance as quality of your fruit and what you do (or perhaps better put, don't do) when you're making your wine. Sort of the funky bass player philosophy that the notes one does not play make your playing sound better, funkier. This is pretty much organically grown fruit from Rioja Alavesa, fermented with native yeasts, judiciously sulphured (don't know the specs, just know what I taste) and plain delicious. I bought a case of 2004 because it should age in a similar way - less ripe vintage but every bit as structured. 15 year old crianza? No problem. Hey, favorite wine bar, if you're reading I'll bring you samples by and maybe you can buy some wine from this importer - good shit.

3 Fonteinen Kriek SchaerbeekseThis was fucking awesome: great balance between sour, savor, and fruit, lots of fancy fucking cherry fruit. I enjoyed this with McDuff last weekend at Max's in Baltimore. Here is a more informative note from importer Shelton Brothers: "Armand Debelder's most special Kriek, brewed with Belgium's famous Schaerbeekse cherries, renowned for their incredible color and flavor. Loads of these rare and expensive sour cherries, pits and all, are poured into aging casks of lambic, where they are gradually infused into the beer. The result is a delectable blend of sourness from the lambic and a slight hint of sweetness from the ridiculous quantity of cherries employed. Naturally, no sugars, sweeteners, or artifical flavors are used."

Montseny Iberian AleReally delicious, subtle hop influence, dry, clean, thirst quenching beer that is easy drinking in that Spanish and Italian beer type of way, minus the lack of body and polish that some of these beers using cheap hops can show.

Haandbrygeriet Norwegian IPAHey, California brewers! Why don't more of you make pale ale in this northern European style: slightly bitter hop punch but restrained, balanced, and well...drinkable? Somehow northern European 'hoppy' I can handle. American hoppy? No thanks.

1989 Vieux Telegraphe 'La Crau' Chateauneuf du PapeAnother imbibement shared with DMcD in Bmore, in this case during a most ill advised dinner at a truly terrible restaurant in Little Italy. I will not go into further detail about the dining but I do accept full responsibility for the decision made. Anyway, this wine showed strangely young, tannic, simple and closed. Bad storage? In a weird phase? Forged bottle? While it would be a strange one to forge given its relative lack of collector status, stranger things have happened. If co-op wine from Fitou can be counterfeited then anything is possible, right?

MV Manekin Cellars Rioja BlendI can be extravagant, yes, but I also have some frugal blood in me: must be my eastern European shtetl heritage. Anyway, after I conducted a Rioja tasting for my co-workers, I poured the dregs into a single bottle. Almost entirely traditional Riojas, mind you, but from different producers and vintages, with different levels of age (crianza, reserva, etc). These wines were included: 2005 Contino Reserva, 2003 La Rioja Alta Viña Alberdi Reserva; 2003 Peciña Crianza; 2001 Cune Imperial Reserva; 2000 La Rioja Alta Viña Ardanza Reserva; 2000 Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia Reserva; 2000 Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva. Not a successful experiment. As far as the individual components, my clear choice for tastiest wine of the bunch would be the Ardanza - that wine is showing incredibly right now.